Q ki

Look here, Signor Quattrocchi, this is not fair. Our politicians have been nice to you, and you say you plan to sue some of them for persecuting you. True, some politicians have said unpleasant things about you over the last 20 years. But has any of them done anything to you? That8217;s the key thing, isn8217;t it? Did the politicians you plan to litigate against ever actually come close to seriously jeopardising your freedom? You left this country in a bit of a hurry but, we believe, under fairly comfortable conditions. Since then, government after government have managed to secure the outcome that you always stay one step ahead of the law, if necessary by the law sometimes taking two steps back. If that8217;s not considerate, frankly we don8217;t know what is. Add to that the fact that some of our politicians have been pro-actively helpful. You may not remember a minister who, on a trip abroad, carried a small note on an issue that you always said had nothing to do with you. But surely you recall the case of a current minister whose warm feelings helped defreeze one of your accounts. The country was taken by surprise twice. Once, by what he had done. And the second time when it got to know that the minister8217;s actions had taken his bosses by surprise as well. He, we were told, just went ahead and did it on his own. That8217;s how much he cared.

Also note this: our politicians made you famous in a very special way. When you came to India you were well-known in perhaps only one household. Now not only are you a household name, you are also perhaps the only member of the Most Wanted list who is actually not quite wanted. You are both instantly recognisable and utterly elusive. In this country, only deities and Bollywood superstars possess those attributes simultaneously. Believe us when we say that8217;s very distinguished company to be in.

You have been an education for us. Who knew what letters rogatory meant? What did the aam aadmi know about Swiss banking procedures, privacy codes of small islands near the British isles, and the magnificence of Malaysian and Argentinean due process? It is deep and abiding 8212; the relationship you have with this country. Then why come after some of India8217;s politicians with guns blazing? Why did we mention guns, you are asking. No particular reason at all.